Global acquires four more for US distribution

The Global FilmInitiative, the US charitable foundation launched earlier this year to promotecross-cultural understanding through cinema, has completed its inaugural2003/04 slate with the acquisition of four acclaimed festival titles.

DjamshedUsmonov's Tajik thriller Angel On The Right was culled from the official selectionin Rotterdam and Cannes and concerns a gangster who returns to his home town tosee his dying mother.

In JoelLamangan's Philippines drama Wretched Lives, which played at Toronto, a cosmeticsconsultant is forced to care for her mentally challenged sister after the deathof their mother.

Algerian YaminaBachir-Chouikh's Rachida concerns a schoolteacher who tries to free herself from theterrorists who plague her village and played in Cannes and Rotterdam.

In Nothing, by Cuban director Juan Carlos CremataMalberti, a postal worker assumes the identities of strangers and embarks on aliberating letter-writing campaign. It played at Cannes, Toronto and Tribeca.

The films willeach receive US distribution in accordance with the Initiative's mandateto be a distribution and granting body representing films from the developingworld that would not ordinarily get made or get a US release.

"Thesefinal four films, like the others previously announced, have enjoyed enormousinternational success and represent the best film-making occurring in thedeveloping world right now," Initiative chairwoman Susan Coulter said ina statement.

"Now that the slate is complete, the real workbegins - that of making sure the films are presented to general audiences andhigh school students alike in a context that delivers both entertainment and areal understanding of our neighbours from around the world."

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